Best beach/sand tire?

WMDunkin

Adventurer
Most of my offroading is going to be on a beach. I will daily drive the tires and use them year round. So snow, rain, heat, beach/sand with some mud tossed in there for good measure. I am looking at tires in the 33-35" range for a 17" wheel. My top choices so far are


Nitto dune grapples

Mickey Thompson Baja claw ttc

Interco TrXus sts

General grabbers

Any other thoughts or input would be great.
 

amo292

Adventurer
Where I work on the beach we have have a decent number of people who subject their vehicles to the soft sands of Martha's Vineyard, most seem to do just fine with standard passenger car tires. The key is to have enough sidewall so you can air down and get that solid footprint.

On our winch trucks we run Yokohama Geolander ATS that hold up very well and are nicely sieped for other road conditions.
IMG_5138.jpg
On my Tundra I run Cooper discover ST Maxx. They do excellent and haven't let me down yet.
IMG_0074.jpgIMG_5309.jpgIMG_4938.jpg
Either way with a 17" wheel and 33-35" tire you will do great having ample sidewall to ride on.

Be aware that my experience is limited to the soft sands of New England and nowhere else. Hope this helps!
 

WMDunkin

Adventurer
Yeah my wrx has geolander at/s tires but I was looking for something a bit more aggressive for a truck that we should be getting in the spring.
 

amo292

Adventurer
I would definitely look into the Coopers then. They are a great balance between the traditional all terrain and more aggressive MT's.
 

MuckSavage

Adventurer
While I don't do a lot of beach driving, my primary terrain is the sugar sand of the South Jersey Pine Barrens. My choice is the Grabber AT2. I've been very happy With the performance of them in the sand as well as other conditions you mentioned. So much so, that I'm on my 4th set on various vehicles. (XJ & 2wd Ranger)
 
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nick325i

Adventurer
I've had good luck with Terra Grapplers, KO's and even the stock Conti's on my last rig in sand. Like mentioned before, i think a nice wide footprint is the key more than tread. If you want something that works other places too I would stick with the Coopers mentioned above or some other similar aggressive AT.
 

kayadog

Adventurer
I've used LT BFG AT KO's, p rated General Grabber AT2's, and p rated Cooper AT3's and all worked fine in the sand at 14psi, also in New England sand. The Cooper's were the best on road tire. I've found a taller sidewall works better than a wide tire to get a nice bulge aired down and any extra height you can get keeps the undercarriage from dragging in the sand and getting caught on the berm between tire tracks. The only issue I've ever had is beach debris slicing the sidewall on the crappy Goodyear SRA's that came on my Jeep.
 

JIMBO

Expedition Leader
:sombrero: Load range C/D Hankook Dynapro MTs-

Super sand and decent hiwy mileage-

Sanddriving013.jpg


:costumed-smiley-007:wings: JIMBO
 

wallaceg

Observer
The best tire on the beach is the one that's aired down. I've been running stock all-season tires (225/65 R17) at 11 psi on the beaches of Cape Cod with no issues. You'll be fine with any tread pattern if you air down.
 

Erik N

Adventurer
Most of my offroading is going to be on a beach. I will daily drive the tires and use them year round.

I have driven probably over 1500 miles in sand, maybe closer to 2000. Conditions have ranged from 50MPH lowtide hardpack to 3MPH winddriven high tide and weed pushed into the dunes. PINS trips add up fast.

You do not want an aggressive tire. You want one that will float over the sand, not dig holes. Air them down and they will be almost unstoppable. Remember the old school VW dunebuggys running wide, almost treadless tires? They were on to something.

Below is a pic of my old POS Xploder with Michelin LTX's (an all-season street tire) pulling out a big bad truck that was running mud tires. He was stuck up to the frame.

After the POS Xploder broke it's suspension over dunes and tide cuts, I got the White Suburban to reach the downshore shark areas. It came with 285 GY Duratracs. They absolutely sucked in the sand, digging and churning through (not over) the sand, even aired down, using all the 454's power to do so. After one trip I changed them. The pic below with the headlights on shows them.

I was too cheap to buy the LTX's for a truck that will rust away in a couple of years, I got some Falken Wild Country's. They are still too aggressive IMO, but they were dirt cheap new. After they wear away to half, they will be better. But I think the truck will have rusted out by then.

We run the LTX's on the ambulances at work, same as the old POS Ford had on it. I love them. I have driven 10's of thousands of miles on them, no complaints on road or during downpours PLUS they excel in sand. And quiet too. They would get my vote as #1 for both sand and DD use, hands down.
 

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JIMBO

Expedition Leader
:sombrero: Pretty much true, but

I don't have to airdown in sand, just DEEP snow-

Having an Auto tranny and the right diff gears makes all the diff. in the world-even more than the tire type !

:wings::wings: JIMBO
 

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